Food Insecurity Survey

Fiona Twycross: What plans do you have to continue the food insecurity survey for London?

The Mayor: London’s statistics on food insecurity were taken from the 2018/19 Survey of Londoners which measured a wide range of outcomes for Londoners including social integration and economic fairness. This is the first such measure of food security and showed that almost two million Londoners, of which an estimated 400,000 are children under 16 struggle to afford or access enough food. The City Intelligence team are currently planning to repeat this survey after four years in 2022/23 but this will be subject to a business case. A final decision will be taken in 2022.

Independent Food Banks Operating in London

Fiona Twycross: Does the Economic Development Unit hold an estimate of the number of non-Trussell Trust food banks operating in London (and if so please provide the number)?

The Mayor: Figures supplied to the City Intelligence Unit by the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) identify at least 36 non-Trussell Trust food banks operating in London, many of which are run by churches and community centres
This figure does not include any venues which prefer to keep their locations anonymous, or any other type of independent food aid provision.
For comparison, the Trussell Trust have 39 main centres in London and with their subsidiary centres have around 121 locations in total in London.

Financial Exclusion and Literacy

Susan Hall: What steps have you taken to “address some of the key causes of financial exclusion and increase financial literacy”, how are you measuring your progress and which groups have you targeted in particular, and why?

The Mayor: My Good Work Standard sets the benchmark for employers to support the financial wellbeing of their employees, for example, by signposting them to trusted financial advice or sources of affordable credit. I’m tracking the number of Londoners employed by firms signed up to the standard which recently passed 200,000.
To promote financial literacy amongst young Londoners I co-hosted a Financial Education Summit at City Hall with the Money Advice Service and Young Enterprise in 2018. And through the Care Leavers Covenant I’m committed to tackling financial exclusion amongst care leavers who face significant financial challenges during the transition to independent living.
My Economic Fairness Indicators monitor levels of problem debt and I’m doing what I can to assist the 600,000 Londoners who find repayments a heavy burden. This includes using European Social Funds to support young people not in education, employment or training and in problem debt, in recognition that financial instability is a barrier to progression.

Potential Customs Checks on food imported from the European Union after December 2020

Leonie Cooper: The European Union’s negotiating objectives for the future relationship with the United Kingdom states: ‘all imports will need to comply with the rules of the importing party and will be subject to regulatory checks and controls for safety, health and other public policy purposes.’ (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_326) Do you share my concerns that the price of food imported from the European Union in London may rise due to non-tariff barriers such as customs checks?

The Mayor: Yes, I am concerned about the impact on disadvantaged Londoners of any interruption to food supply chains into London, and of the potential for those interruptions having an impact on prices.
This is one of the reasons why I asked the London Resilience Forum (LRF) to look at the short-term implications of Brexit on the supply and distribution of food, alongside other critical areas. They continue to work on this with the London Food Board and are working hard to understand how Government will maintain the continuity of food supply. The LRF continues to raise its concerns with Government about the unacceptable impacts of any interruptions to food supply for vulnerable Londoners.